Visual Fields

The Basic Bookshelf for Eyecare Professionals is a series that provides fundamental and advanced material with a clinical approach to clinicians and students. A special effort was made to include information needed for the certification exams in ophthalmic and optometric assisting, low vision, surgical assisting, opticianry, and contact lens examiners.

Visual Fields, by Neil T. Choplin, MD, and Russell P. Edwards MD, discusses the anatomic basis for visual field defects, reviews the methods for testing problems in the visual fields, and gives guidelines for interpretation.

The first section provides a foundation of visual fields including description, common terminology, and anatomy. Specifically, the authors highlight how lesions within the visual pathways give rise to visual field defects. The second section outlines the methods of testing, from basic to advanced. The book emphasizes efficiency in testing areas in a number of clinical settings. An entire chapter is dedicated to common errors in visual field testing and ways to minimize them. The final section includes an atlas of common visual field defects due to glaucoma, neurological disease, and other medical conditions. Advancements in visual field testing equipment and software for automated perimeters are thoroughly researched and reviewed.

Neil Choplin, MD is a graduate of New York University with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. He received his medical degree from New York Medical College, served a general surgery internship at Long Island Jewish Hillside Medical Center, and did a residency in ophthalmology at Nassau Count Medical Center. Dr. Choplin entered military service after completing residency training and served 4 years at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia. After completion of a glaucoma fellowship at the Wills Eye Hospital, Dr. Choplin transferred to the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, where he is currently the chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, director of the glaucoma service, and president of the San Diego County Ophthalmology Society. He holds the rank of captain in the Navy Medical Corps and is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology. Dr. Choplin has extensive experience in visual field testing and has written numerous related articles and textbook chapters. He has also authored a book on visual field testing with the Humphrey Field Analyzer. He serves as a commissioner on the Joint Commission for Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology™ (JCAHPO™), representing the Society of Military Ophthalmologists. San Diego has been particularly good to Dr. Choplin, his wife Lynn, and teenage daughters Danielle and Suzanne.     

Russell Edwards, MD received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Missouri in Columbia ad his medical degree from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. He then entered the United States Navy and served his internship at the Regional Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Va. Following his ophthalmology residency training at the Naval Hospital in San Diego, Calif., Dr. Edwards served as a fellow in neuro-ophthalmology and orbital surgery at the Allegheny campus of the Medical College of Pennsylvania. A captain in the Navy Medical Corps, he is currently assigned to the Naval Medical Center in San Diego where he is the assistant chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and the director of neuro-ophthalmology and oculoplastics services. Dr. Edwards has authored a book of visual field testing and has been teaching visual field testing for many years. He lives in San Diego with his wife, Deborah, and his two sons, Zachary and Jeffrey.